System and method for processing funds transfer between entities based on received optical machine readable image information

ABSTRACT

A system and method for coordinating processing of a funds transfer transaction between a transaction requestor and a transaction responder over a communications network. The transaction system comprises receiving a funds amount, requestor identification information, and responder identification information, such that at least one of the funds amount, the requestor identification information, or the responder identification information is encoded in symbology information embodied in a barcode. The system also decodes the symbology information into unencoded information using a coding scheme of the barcode and generates a funds transfer request for the funds transfer transaction, such that the funds transfer request has content including the unencoded information decoded from the symbology information. The system also sends the funds transfer request to a transaction processing system for subsequent settlement, as well as receives transaction confirmation messages.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a further continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/087,195 filed Nov. 22, 2013 which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/397,233 filed Feb. 15, 2012 which is aNon Provisional of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/485,075filed May 11, 2011 and is a Continuation-In-Part to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/105,803, filed May 11, 2011, all of which arehereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

The present invention is related to facilitating transfer of fundsbetween entities using optical machine readable images such as barcodesto expedite transaction processing.

BACKGROUND

Barcodes and other are optical machine readable images used extensivelyto represent information about an object. Decoding or reading a barcodeis accomplished by translating the patterns of the barcode, such as barsand spaces in linear barcodes or blocks or other features in a 2Dbarcode, into the corresponding numbers or characters. Barcodes arewidely used for encoding information and tracking purposes in retail,shipping and industrial settings. Barcodes and their uses are becomingmore mainstream, however their uses remain mostly in providing staticinformation about a particular product or service, or in recent yearsproviding a static link to a website in relation to the product orservice associated with the barcode.

For years, payment systems, and banking and payment processing ingeneral, have been trying to engineer a transaction processingtechnology that is secure, efficient and easy to use, therebyfacilitating the online transfer of funds between entities. Inparticular, providing one entity with some control in how their personalfinancial information is provided to directly another entity involved inthe funds transfer has so far been elusive. This inability to involvemore entity control of the funds transfer transaction between entitieswhile at the same time streamlining the amount of time and informationentities must share with each other during funds transfer haseffectively relegated experience in online electronic direct fundstransfer to that of yesterday rather than the future. In particular,barcodes have been used in an effort to speed up the customer shoppingexperiences by providing merchant terminals information about theproduct when scanned through a checkout scanner, i.e. the price andbrief description of the product that the barcode is attached/appliedto. However, any use of barcodes outside of the customer shoppingexperience, other than as a look up service for a price of a product ona product by product basis, is simply not available.

At the same time, developments in the field of mobile commerce are beingfacilitated by improved functionality and features available on mobiledevices, and by such functionality and features becoming morecommonplace on current mobile devices. For example, cell phones, smartphones and tablet computers nowadays are commonly integrated,multi-functional devices. In addition to their core, basicfunctionality, they will often have, or can be configured to have,web-enabled functionality, various other communication capabilities(e.g., e-mail, text, wi-fi, etc.), camera functions, scanning andgraphical image handling functionalities and other capabilities.Graphical interfaces of desktop computers have also become more advancedin their functionality and provided features. However, to date, thedirect funds transfer experience between entities (either in person oronline) has not benefited from these advanced functionality and providedfeatures of desktop GUIs and mobile devices.

SUMMARY

Presently there is a need for a system and method to facilitate thetransfer of funds between entities using optical machine readable imagesthat addresses at least one of the identified problems in the currentstate of the art.

Currently, providing one entity with some control in how their personalfinancial information is provided to directly another entity involved inthe funds transfer has so far been elusive. This inability to involvemore entity control of the funds transfer transaction between entitieswhile at the same time streamlining the amount of time and informationentities must share with each other during funds transfer haseffectively relegated experience in online electronic direct fundstransfer to that of yesterday rather than the future. Contrary tocurrent systems there is provided a system and method for coordinatingprocessing of a funds transfer transaction between a transactionrequestor and a transaction responder over a communications network. Thetransaction system comprises receiving a funds amount, requestoridentification information, and responder identification information,such that at least one of the funds amount, the requestor identificationinformation, or the responder identification information is encoded insymbology information embodied in a barcode. The system also decodes thesymbology information into unencoded information using a coding schemeof the barcode and generates a funds transfer request for the fundstransfer transaction, such that the funds transfer request has contentincluding the funds amount and financial account information pertainingto at least one of the requestor identification information or theresponder identification information, such that at least a portion ofthe content includes the unencoded information decoded from thesymbology information. The system also sends the funds transfer requestto a transaction processing system for subsequent settlement, as well asreceives transaction confirmation messages.

A first aspect provided is a transaction system for coordinatingprocessing of a funds transfer transaction between a transactionrequestor and a transaction responder over a communications network, thetransaction system comprising: a computer processor coupled to a memory,wherein the computer processor is programmed to coordinate processing ofthe funds transfer transaction by: receiving a funds amount, requestoridentification information, and responder identification information,such that at least one of the funds amount, the requestor identificationinformation, or the responder identification information is encoded insymbology information embodied in a barcode; decoding the symbologyinformation into unencoded information using a coding scheme of thebarcode; generating a funds transfer request for the funds transfertransaction, the funds transfer request having content including thefunds amount and financial account information pertaining to at leastone of the requestor identification information or the responderidentification information, such that at least a portion of the contentincludes the unencoded information decoded from the symbologyinformation; and sending the funds transfer request to a transactionprocessing system for subsequent settlement.

A second aspect provided is a method for coordinating processing of afunds transfer transaction between a transaction requestor and atransaction responder over a communications network, the methodcomprising: receiving a funds amount, requestor identificationinformation, and responder identification information, such that atleast one of the funds amount, the requestor identification information,or the responder identification information is encoded in symbologyinformation embodied in a barcode; decoding, using a computer processor,the symbology information into unencoded information using a codingscheme of the barcode; generating, using the computer processor, a fundstransfer request for the funds transfer transaction, the funds transferrequest having content including the funds amount and financial accountinformation pertaining to at least one of the requestor identificationinformation or the responder identification information, such that atleast a portion of the content includes the unencoded informationdecoded from the symbology information; and sending the funds transferrequest to a transaction processing system for subsequent settlement.

A third aspect provided is a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium with an executable program application stored thereon, theprogram application configured for coordinating processing of a fundstransfer transaction involving a transaction requestor and a transactionresponder, the program application configured as a client of atransaction service accessible over a communications network, whereinthe program application instructs a computer processor to perform thefollowing steps of: collecting a funds amount and requestoridentification information, such that at least one of the funds amountor the requestor identification information is encoded in symbologyinformation embodied in a barcode; receiving responder identificationinformation including a financial account selected by the responder;generating a transaction request to have content of the funds amount,the requestor identification information, and the responderidentification information, such that at least a portion of the contentincludes the encoded symbology information; sending a transactionrequest to the transaction service over the communications network; andreceiving a transaction confirmation message including settlementinformation pertaining to the funds transfer transaction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described inconjunction with the following drawings, by way of example only, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of components of a funds transfer transactionsystem;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a payment application of the system of FIG.1;

FIG. 3 shows example encoded and unencoded information for the system ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example transaction service forcoordinating the funds transfer via the payment application of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a computer device implementing the paymentapplication of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a computer device implementing thetransaction service of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 7 is an example operation of the system of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration,where considered appropriate, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the exemplary embodimentsdescribed herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinaryskill in the art that the embodiments described herein may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods,procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not toobscure the embodiments described herein. Furthermore, this descriptionis not to be considered as limiting the scope of the embodimentsdescribed herein in any way, but rather as merely describing theimplementations of various embodiments described herein.

The embodiments of the systems, devices and methods described herein maybe implemented in hardware or software, or a combination of both. Someof the embodiments described herein may be implemented in computerprograms executing on programmable computers, each computer comprisingat least one processor, a computer memory (including volatile andnon-volatile memory), at least one input device, and at least one outputdevice. For example, and without limitation, the programmable computercan be a mobile computing device having a processor for processingoptical machine readable images (e.g. barcode images) and program code,a server computer having a processor for generating optical machinereadable images based on invoice information and processing programcode, an image sensor for capturing optical machine readable images, andat least one network interface for communicating payment transactioninformation and/or generated optical machine readable images. Programcode may be executed by the processor to operate on input data, such asthe captured optical machine readable images, to perform the functionsdescribed herein and generate output data representative of transactiondata. Further, program code may be executed by the processor to operateon input data, such as a requested funds amount provided by fundsrequestor, to perform the functions described herein and generate outputdata as an optical machine readable image representing encoded fundsamount data and other associated data.

Funds Transfer System 10

Referring to FIG. 1, shown is a funds transfer system 10 for completingan electronic funds transfer transaction 5 (e.g. an electronic transferof money from one account to another) between a funds requestor 16 (e.g.an entity such as a seller) and a funds responder 18 (e.g. an entitysuch as a buyer). The funds requestor 16 has a financial account 70 withtheir financial institution (not shown) and the funds responder 18 has afinancial account 72 with their financial institution (not shown), suchthat a funds transfer transaction service 20 coordinates settlement ofthe funds transfer transaction 5 between the financial accounts 70, 72(as performed by a transaction processing system 14 such as but notlimited to one or more financial institutions or transaction exchangesoperating in conjunction or otherwise on behalf of the financialinstitutions at which the accounts 70,72 are held). For example, fundstransfer transaction 5 can be an exchange of money (e.g. $5) as a resultof goods or services changing hands between the funds requestor 16 andthe funds responder 18 (e.g. buying a bicycle at a garage sale). Anadvantage of the funds transfer system 10, as further described below,is that the funds requestor 16 and the funds responder 18 do not have toexpose their personal financial information with one another, includingpersonal identifications numbers (PIN) and/or financial accountpasswords). The funds transfer transaction 5 involves the use of anoptical machine readable image (OMRI) 200 that contains encodedtransaction information, as further described below.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the funds requestor 16 operates a computerdevice 12 (having an installed payment application 13) and the fundsresponder 18 operates a computer device 8 (having an installed paymentapplication 13), such that computer devices 8, 12 can be incommunication with one another and with a funds transfer transactionservice 20 (having an installed transaction interface 15) via acommunications network 11. The communications network 11 can be a one ormore networks, for example such as but not limited to: the Internet; anextranet; and/or an intranet. Further, the communications network 11 canbe a wired or wireless network. It is also recognized that network 11messages (between the various devices 6, 8,10 and system 14) can becommunicated via short range wireless communication protocols such asbut not limited to Bluetooth™, infrared (IR), radio frequency (RE), nearfield communication (NFC) and/or by long range communication protocols(e.g. HTTP, HTTPS, etc.), in view of the type of electroniccommunication required between any pair of devices 6,8,12 and system 14.For example, devices 8,12 could communicate with one another using shortrange Bluetooth™ communications while devices 6,8 could communicate withone another using long range HTTPS based communications.

It is recognized that network 11 communication messages facilitating theprocessing of the funds transfer transaction 5 are preferably betweeneach of the payment applications 13 and the transaction interface 15,rather than directly between the payment applications 13 themselves(i.e. directly meaning without interaction with the transactioninterface 15). Therefore, in one embodiment, in the event that thepayment applications 13 need (e.g. request) information from oneanother, these request (and response) network 11 messages would gothrough the transaction interface 15 acting as an intermediary networkinterface between the payment applications 13. However, it is recognizedthat network 11 messaging directly between the payment applications 13can also be configured, for example for the purpose of gatheringinformation relevant to generation and/or processing of the fundstransfer transaction 5 as desired.

Further, the transaction service 20 can communicate also via thecommunications network 11 with a transaction processing system 14 thatperforms the settlement (e.g. debit of funds specified in the fundstransfer transaction 5 from the account 72 and crediting of the funds into the account 70) of the funds transfer transaction 5 between thefinancial accounts 70, 72. It is recognized that the actual amount ofdebit and credit funds actions performed by the transaction processingsystem 14 may not exactly match a funds amount 203 (see FIG. 3)specified in the funds transfer transaction 5, for example as embodiedin the OMRI 200 such as a barcode, due to applied service charges. Forexample, a payment request of $5 from the financial account 72 to thefinancial account 70 could result in an actual debited amount of $5.02(representing an included $0.02 service charge to the funds requestor16) and/or an actual credited amount of $4.98 (representing an included$0.02 service charge to the funds responder 16).

Therefore, it is anticipated that processing of the electronic fundstransfer transaction 5 by the funds transfer system 10 can involve atransaction service charge being charged to the funds requestor 16and/or the funds responder 18 in order to complete the funds transfertransaction 5 initiated by the funds requestor 16. Transaction 5settlement can be defined as where the funds amount is transferred fromthe one account 70 to the other account 72, i.e. the credit and debittransactions of the funds amount against the respective accounts 70,72are either performed (e.g. in real time) or promised to be performed(e.g. included in a batch transaction to be performed later in the dayor following business day).

Referring again to FIG. 1, the computer devices 8, 12 can each have apayment application 13 that operates as a client of the transactionservice 20, such that at least the payment application 13 of thecomputer device 12 (of the funds requestor 16) is registered with thetransaction service 20. Registration details 17 (see FIG. 4) of thefunds requestor 16 with the transaction service 20 can include requestordata such as but not limited to: identification ID 80 (e.g. MobileSubscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Number (MSISDN) as atelephone number, a unique identifier—different from the phonenumber—called the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), auniversally unique identifier (UUID) such as a MAC address or otherimplemented generation scheme for the UUID) of the computer device 12;requestor ID 82 that is or is otherwise associated (mapped, linked) tothe actual account number 70 of the funds requestor 16; and a uniqueencryption key 84 that is assigned to the funds requestor 16.

Optionally, the funds responder 18 can also be registered with thetransaction service 20 and have registration details 17 including one ormore responder data such as but not limited to: identification ID 80(e.g. Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Number(MSISDN) as a telephone number, a unique identifier different from thephone number—called the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI),a universally unique identifier (UUID) such as a MAC address or otherimplemented generation scheme for the UUID) of the computer device 8;responder ID 82 that is or is otherwise associated (mapped, linked) tothe actual account number 72 of the funds responder 18; and a uniqueencryption key 84 that is assigned to the funds responder 18.

It is recognized that in view of the above, any of the registrationdetails 17 (of the funds requestor 16 and/or the funds responder 18) canbe included in the funds transfer transaction 5 received by thetransaction service 20. Further, it is recognized that any of theregistration details 17 (of the funds requestor 16 and/or the fundsresponder 18) can be incorporated in to the OMRI 200 used to facilitatethe funds transfer transaction 5, as further described below.

The transaction service 20 is implemented on a computer device 6 (e.g. aweb server) and communicates over the communications network 11 with thecomputer devices 8,12 via a hosted transaction interface 15. Thetransaction interface 15 of the transaction service 20 can be a web siteaccessible over the communications network 11 by the computer devices8,12 using respective web browsers operating on the computer devices8,12, such that the transaction interface 15 is in communication withthe payment applications 13 of the client devices 8,12. Accordingly, thetransaction interface 15, computer device 12 and computer device 8 caninteract (e.g. via network 11 messages) together to initiate andcomplete the funds transfer transaction 5, for example based on productsoffered and sold by the funds requestor 16 to the funds responder 18,such that the OMRI 200 (see FIG. 3) is generated and included as part ofthe initiation and/or processing of the funds transfer transaction 5 inconjunction with the order interface 15.

The OMRI 200 (i.e. an optical machine-readable representation of data)of the funds transfer transaction 5 contains symbology information 204in encoded form based on a coding scheme 209. One example of the OMRI200 is a barcode, such that the coding scheme 209 is a barcode codingscheme for use in encoding and decoding of the symbology information 204of the barcode. Another example of the OMRI 200 is a dataglyph, suchthat the coding scheme 209 is a dataglyph coding scheme for use inencoding and decoding of the symbology information 204 of the dataglyph.

The OMRI 200 is used by the funds transfer system 10 to represent andfacilitate processing of the funds transfer transaction 5 byrepresenting textual information 201 (e.g. product pricing numbers,total funds amount 203 numbers, funds responder 18 and/or fundsrequestor 16 identification or account 70, 72 numbers, a transactionnumber identifying the funds transfer transaction 5, productdescriptions and/or transfer terms including password or PIN informationcorresponding to the account 70 and/or the account 72, etc.) that isencoded as symbology information 204 in the OMRI 200. It is recognizedthat the funds transfer transaction 5 can be initiated by the fundsrequestor 16 representing a seller of a product (e.g. a good or serviceprovided by the seller to the buyer) or could be initiated by the fundsrequestor 16 representing the buyer of a product in the case where thebuyer makes an unsolicited offer/bid for an available product (of apotential seller). Another example is where a debt is owed by a debtorto a creditor (e.g. $5 borrowed by a friend), whereby the fundsrequestor 16 could be the creditor requesting that the debtor pay backthe debt or could be the debtor offering payment of the debt unsolicitedby the creditor. In the above-described cases, it is recognized that thefunds requestor 16 is the entity initiating the funds transfertransaction 5 and could be either the debit account 70,72 holder or thecredit account holder 70,72, depending upon the circumstance. This is incomparison to the funds responder 18 who is the entity receiving theOMRI 200 and causing the funds transfer transaction 5 to proceed tosettlement via the transaction service 20 and the transaction processingsystem 14.

As discussed below, the computer device 8 does not necessarily have tocommunicate with the computer device 12 over the communications network11, in order to receive the OMRI 200. Instead, the funds responder 18can record an image of the OMRI 200 by using an imager of the computerdevice 8 (e.g. a camera 118 enabled mobile device—see FIG. 5), forsubsequent processing by the computer device 8 and the transactionservice 20. In this example, the user interface 104 (see FIG. 5) of thecomputer device 12 can display the OMRI 200 within range of the camera118 of the computer device 8 for subsequent receipt as a recorded image.

DEFINITION OF PRODUCTS

In economics, economic output is divided into goods and services. Whenan economic activity yields a valuable or useful thing, it can be knownas production output of the totality of products (e.g. goods orservices) in an economy that is made available for use by someone else.Products as goods can range from a simple safety pin, food, clothing,computer components to complex machinery and electronic or physicalmedia (physical or electronic versions of music, print media, etc.).Products as services are the performance of any duties or work foranother (e.g. helpful or professional activity) and can be used todefine intangible specialized economic activities such as but notlimited to: providing access to specific information; web services;transport; banking; legal advice; accounting advice; managementconsultant advice; and medical services. The entity providing theproducts can be a businessperson or individual engaged inwholesale/retail trade, an organization, an administration, and/or abusiness that sells, administers, maintains, charges for or otherwisemakes available product(s) that are desirable by their customer.Accordingly, the entity providing (e.g. selling) the product can be oneperson, or an association of persons, for the purpose of carrying onsome enterprise or business; a corporation; a firm; etc.

Further, it is recognized that the products can be related to companyactivities not related to specific product(s), for example customerservice, community activities, donations, and/or sponsorships. Thesegeneral activities of the entity providing the product are alsoconsidered as part of the definition of products. As discussed above,the exchanged funds can be as a result of payment of a debt by a debtorto a creditor, hence in this case the product is a loan of funds betweenthe debtor and creditor. A further related example is where theexchanged funds can be as a result of loaning a sum of money (i.e.creating a debt) between the debtor and the creditor. Also as discussedabove, the debtor and/or creditors can be entities embodied asindividuals (e.g. a person), companies (e.g. banks), etc. Further, it isrecognized that the products can include restaurant meals (and/orservice), such that the funds transfer transaction 5 represents a mealbill and the products are individual food and/or beverage items. It isalso recognized that the products can be groceries or other retail itemsbeing paid for in person by the funds responder 18 at a merchant retailestablishment (e.g. the funds requestor), for example.

As further discussed, the funds amount 203 of the funds transfertransaction 5 is entered via the payment application 13 of the requestorcomputer device 12. The payment application 13 provides the fundsrequestor 16 with the ability to select and/or specify the funds amount203 and can also generate the OMRI 200 (see FIG. 3) that containsencoded funds transfer information (the symbology information 204)representing summary information (e.g. optional productlisting/description, transfer identification information, requestor ID,and/or funds amount 203, etc.). It is also recognized that the fundstransfer transaction 5 can represent a plurality of products, e.g. oneOMRI 200 representing funds amount 203 data for two or more products.

In any event, it is recognized that the OMRI 200 can be generated by thepayment application 13 of the computer device 12 (i.e. the computerdevice of the entity initiating the funds transfer request) to containdata (e.g. the funds amount data 203 and any associated data includingrequestor data 208, responder data 211 and/or transfer data 210) of thefunds transfer transaction 5, including transaction data needed by thetransaction service 20 in order to coordinate the settlement of thefunds transfer transaction 5 via the payment processing system 14 (i.e.transferring funds from one specified account 70,72 to another specifiedaccount 70,72). It should be noted that the actual generation of thebarcode 200 can alternatively be performed by the transaction service 20upon request, as further described below.

OMRI 200

Referring to FIG. 3, as used herein, the term OMRI 200 (e.g. barcode,dataglyph, etc.) refers to an optical machine-readable representation ofencoded information or data, presented as an ordered pattern of symbols(i.e. symbology information 204). For example, barcodes can encodeinformation in the widths and the spacing of parallel lines, and may bereferred to as linear or 1D (1 dimensional) symbologies. Barcodes canalso encode information in patterns of squares, dots, hexagons and othergeometric shapes or symbols within images termed 2D (2 dimensional)matrix codes or symbologies. Typically, although 2D systems use symbolsother than bars, they are generally referred to as barcodes as well.Accordingly, barcode images discussed herein for use with a barcodeencoder or decoder can refer to either 1D or 2D barcodes. Withconventional monochromatic barcodes, features are typically printed inblack on a white background, thereby forming a pattern that is used toform the machine-readable representation of funds information of thefunds transfer transaction 5. With color barcodes, the pattern caninclude any number of colors (typically also including black and white)distinguishable from one another during the barcode decoding process.

The OMRI 200 is generated to include symbology information 204representing funds transfer transaction 5 content used to define product(optional) and funds payment terms/details concerning the specifiedfunds amount 203. As discussed further below, the OMRI 200 can beelectronically displayed (e.g. on a computer display), can be providedas graphic content (e.g. an image file such as but not limited to a GIFor JPEG) in a network message and/or can be provided in printed form(e.g. presented on a physical medium such as paper or plastic—forexample presented on a label). As discussed, interaction between theOMRI 200 and the funds responder 18 (see FIG. 1) can include fundsresponder 18 actions such as but not limited to: selection (e.g. viamouse or other pointer) on a user interface 104 (see FIG. 5) of thecomputer device 8 displaying the OMRI 200; receiving an image filecontaining the OMRI 200; and/or recording/capturing the image of theOMRI 200 using an imager 118 (e.g. camera) of the computer device 8,12(e.g. mobile device), such that the OMRI 200 is displayed on physicalmedia and/or electronic media (i.e. an electronic display adjacent tothe customer device 8 and in-range of the imager 118). Exampleenvironments of the described image capture process would be where theOMRI 200 is displayed on the computer device 12 of the funds requestor16.

In terms of the symbology information 204 of the OMRI 200, the symbologyinformation 204 includes a plurality of symbols (i.e. graphicalelements) that, as a collection of symbols or patterns (e.g. anorganized collection of symbols forms a legend, or key), representsencoded funds information that is distinct from the actual unencodedtextual funds information 201 itself. For example, a graphical element(of the symbology 204) of a black line of a specific width represents atextual element (of the textual information 201) as the number six,while a different width represents a different textual element (of thetextual information 201) such as the number two. It is recognized thatgraphical elements can be pictures (e.g. images) of text elements and/orof non-text elements. For example, the graphical element “6” (e.g.encoded or symbology information 204) in the coding scheme 209 could bemapped to a product code “1234” (e.g. unencoded information 201). Inanother example, the graphical element “(*)” (e.g. encoded or symbologyinformation 204) in the coding scheme 209 could be mapped to a productcode “1234” (e.g. unencoded information 201).

The purpose of the symbology information 204 is to communicate encodedfunds information (that defines a plurality of funds parameters) asreadable (e.g. decodable) by an image decoder 119 or otherwise encodableby an image encoder 120. The decoder 119 could be present on thecomputer devices 8,12 and/or on the transaction service 20, as furtherdescribed below. It is recognized that mapping (i.e. processingperformed by the decoder 119 or encoder 120) between the symbologyinformation 204 and the textual funds information 201 is what enablesthe OMRI 200 to be generated and interpreted. A specification of thesymbology information 204 can include the encoding of the singledigits/characters of the textual funds data 201 as well as the start andstop markers into individual symbols (e.g. bars) and space between thesymbols of the symbol collection/pattern, the size of a quiet zonerequired to be before and after the OMRI 200, as well as a computationof a checksum incorporated into the OMRI 200 for error checking purposesas is known in the art.

It is recognized that the OMRI 200 may not contain descriptive data,rather the OMRI 200 can be used as reference codes (e.g. decodedinformation) that a computer uses to look up an associated record thatcontains the descriptive textual funds data 201, as well as any otherrelevant information about the funds amount 203 associated with thetextual funds data 201 encoded in the OMRI 200. For example, thematching item record of the symbology information 204 can contain anoptional description of the product, requestor and/or responder name,funds amount, requestor or responder financial account information ordesignations, etc., including any of the product data 206, requestordata 208, responder data 211 and/or transfer data 210 as furtherdescribed below. However, some OMRI 200 can contain, besides referenceID, additional or supplemental information such as product name ormanufacturer, for example, and some 2D OMRI 200 may contain even moreinformation as they can be more informationally dense due the greatervariation potential of the printed patterns over those of 1D OMRI 200.

In terms of different barcode type, linear symbologies (e.g. UPCbarcodes as an example symbology format of the barcode) can beclassified mainly by two properties, continuous vs. discrete andtwo-width vs. many-width. In continuous vs. discrete, characters (i.e.representing the invoice data content) in continuous symbologies usuallyabut, with one character ending with a space and the next beginning witha bar (e.g. light-dark patterns), or vice versa. Characters (i.e.representing the invoice data content) in discrete symbologies begin andend with bars and any intercharacter space is ignored as long as it isnot wide enough to look like the code ends. In two-width vs. many-width,bars and spaces in two-width symbologies are wide or narrow, and theexact width of a wide bar has no significance as long as the symbologyrequirements for wide bars are adhered to (usually two to three timeswider than a narrow bar). Bars and spaces in many-width symbologies areall multiples of a basic width called the module, wherein most suchcodes use four widths of 1, 2, 3 and 4 modules. Some linear symbologiesuse interleaving, such that the first character (i.e. representing theinvoice data content) is encoded using black bars of varying width. Thesecond character (i.e. representing the invoice data content) is thenencoded, by varying the width of the white spaces between these bars.Thus characters (i.e. representing the invoice data content) are encodedin pairs over the same section of the barcode. Stacked symbologiesrepeat a given linear symbology vertically.

In terms of multidimensional symbologies (e.g. 2D, 3D, etc.), the mostcommon among the many 2D symbologies are matrix codes, which featuresquare or dot-shaped modules (i.e. representing the invoice datacontent) arranged on a grid pattern. 2-D symbologies also come incircular and other patterns and may employ steganography, thereby hidingmodules within an image (for example, using DataGlyphs). Aztec Code isanother type of 2D barcode.

Quick Response Codes (QRC) are another a type of matrix barcode (ortwo-dimensional code) providing faster readability and larger storagecapacity compared to traditional UPC barcodes. The QR code (as anexample symbology format of the barcode) consists of black modulesarranged in a square pattern on a white background. The informationencoded can be made up of four standardized kinds (“modes”) of encodeddata (e.g. numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, and/or Kanji), or bysupported extensions virtually any kind of data.

It is also recognized that the symbology information 204 of the OMRI 200can include custom graphical elements (as codified in the coding scheme209) involving combinations of one or more graphical elements used torepresent a textual element, e.g. a corporate logo is used as acollection of graphical elements (e.g. circle, square, and company name)that is mapped (e.g. decoded) by the coding scheme 209 to represent atextual element (e.g. a URL to a webpage of the company website).Alternatively, the textual element can be mapped (e.g. encoded) by thecoding scheme 209 to represent the collection of graphical elements. Inthis example, the graphical element of a company name (the symbologyinformation 204) is decoded by the coding scheme 209 to represent thetext of the URL (the textual information 201). One example of barcodescontaining custom graphical elements is Microsoft™ Tag barcodes.

Microsoft™ Tags as an OMRI 200 are another type of barcode, e.g. 2Dbarcodes, which offer more flexibility than traditional barcode formatsboth in the barcode design and the content behind it. Because MicrosoftTag barcodes can be linked to data stored on a server, you can deliver amore robust online experience—including entire mobile sites—and updatethe content any time without having to change the Microsoft Tag. So, ifyou link a Microsoft Tag on your business card to your résumé, it willstill be valid after you get that big promotion. Microsoft Tags can beblack-and-white or full-color, including custom images (e.g., a companylogo). Therefore, the Microsoft Tag can have encoded data in thesymbology information 204 of the Tag that includes a link (e.g. URL) orother hyperlink that references a location in memory (e.g. in adatabase) and/or a network address where data content isavailable/accessible via the encoded link. In other words, a Tag encoderwould use a Tag coding scheme 209 to encode the textual link information201 into corresponding symbology information 204, e.g. the hyperlink toa website (the textual link information 201) would be represented as oneor more graphical elements such as a company logo or even graphicalelements (the symbology information 204) picturing the product itself.

It is also recognized that the symbology information 204 of the OMRI 200can be encrypted (e.g. using a DES algorithm). In terms of the format ofthe symbology information 204, codewords embedded/encoded in thesymbology information 204 are typically 8 bits long. It is recognizedthat the funds transfer transaction 5 data represented by the symbologyinformation 204 in the OMRI 200 can be broken up into multiple blocks,such that each block includes a number (e.g. 255) of codewords inlength.

Another example of an optical machine-readable (e.g. OMRI 200)representation of encoded information or data are DataGlyphs, which area new technology for encoding machine readable data onto paper documentsor other physical media. They encode information into a number of tiny,individual glyph elements. Each graphical (e.g. glyph) element canconsist of a small 45 degree diagonal line as short as 1/100th of aninch or less, depending on the resolution of the printing and scanningthat is used, for example. Each glyph element (as the symbologyinformation 204) represents a single binary 0 or 1 (as the decodedtextual information 201), depending on whether it slopes to the left orright. Sequences of these glyph elements (symbology information 204) canbe used to encode numeric, textual or other information (unencodedinformation 201).

As an example configuration of the dataglyph symbology and coding scheme209, the individual glyphs are grouped together on the page (ordisplayed electronically on a display), where they form unobtrusive,evenly textured gray areas, like half-toned pictures. One of the reasonsfor using diagonal glyph elements is because research has shown that thepatterns that they form when massed together are not visuallydistracting. DataGlyph technology allows ordinary business documents tocarry thousands of characters of information hidden in these unobtrusivegray patterns that can appear as backgrounds, shading patterns orconventional graphic design elements. Often, their presence will gocompletely unnoticed. (The entire Gettysburg Address will fit in aDataGlyph about the size of a small US postage stamp). DataGlyph areascan be printed on a document as part of its normal printing process ordisplayed on a screen as part of the normal image rendering process. Theinformation to be put in the DataGlyphs is encoded as a sequence ofindividual glyphs, and these can be printed either directly by theencoding software (for instance, by computer laser printer) or via aconventional printing process, such as offset. The glyphs are laid downon a finely spaced rectangular grid so that the area is evenly textured.In addition, each glyph area contains an embedded synchronizationlattice or “skeleton” a repeating, fixed pattern of glyphs which marksthe boundaries of the glyph area and serves as a clocking track toimprove the reliability of reading. Before data is placed into thesynchronization frame, it's grouped into blocks of a few dozen bytes anderror correcting code is added to each block. The amount of errorcorrection to be used is chosen by the application, depending on theexpected quality of the print-scan cycle. Higher levels of errorcorrection increase the size of the glyph area needed for a given amountof data, but improve the reliability with which the data can be readback. This can be very important in environments where there's a highlevel of image noise (for example, fax) or where the documents aresubjected to rough handling. As a final step, the bytes of data arerandomly dispersed across the glyph area, so that if any part of theglyph area on the paper is severely damaged, the damage to anyindividual block of data will be slight, and thus easy for the errorcorrecting code to recover. Together, error correction and randomizationprovide very high levels of reliability, even when the glyph area isimpaired by ink marks, staples and other kinds of image damage.

In view of the above description, it is recognized that OMRI 200 can beembodied as barcodes, dataglyphs or other images that contain encodedsymbology information 204 that can be decoded into unencoded information201 (e.g. textual elements) using an appropriate coding scheme 209 thatprovides a mapping (e.g. rules) between the symbology information 204 tointo the unencoded information 201 (e.g. the decoding process) and theunencoded information 201 into the symbology information 204 (e.g. theencoding process). In any event, the following description, forsimplified example explanation purposes only, refers to OMRI 200 asbarcodes 200. However, it is recognized that in the below description,the term barcode 200 can be interchanged with the broader meaning ofOMRI 200, as desired.

Payment Application 13

Referring to FIG. 1, it is recognized that the payment application 13can include a plurality of barcode 200 related processing functionality,a plurality of transaction processing functionality and/or clientfunctionality configured for network 11 communication with a transactioninterface 15 in a client-server relationship. For example, the paymentapplication 13 can be configured as a thin client of the transactioninterface 15, such that the payment application 13 is configured tointeract with a barcode processing system of the transaction interface15 via a series of web pages generated by the barcode processing system,sent via network messages and displayed on the user interface 104.Accordingly, the payment application 13 would interact with a webbrowser (or other network communication program) to send and receive themessages via the network 11 containing transaction 5 specificinformation, i.e. to display the web pages on the user interface 104including output data for the transaction 5 and to coordinate the entryof input data on the user interface 104 and network transmission of theinput data for the transaction 5.

Alternatively, the payment application 13 can be configured as a thickclient of the transaction interface 15, such that the paymentapplication 13 is provisioned with transaction and/or barcode processingfunctionality similar to (or at least a portion of) that functionalityof the barcode processing system and/or barcode generation system of thetransaction interface 15, as further described below. It is recognizedthat the thick client version of the payment application 13 could beconfigured to perform some of the transaction or barcode processing onbehalf of or otherwise in substitution of any of the processingfunctionality of the barcode processing system and/or the barcodegeneration system implemented by the of the transaction interface 15during processing of the transaction 5. It is also recognized that thethick client version of the payment application 13 could also beconfigured to communicate over the network 11 via a series of web pagesas generated or otherwise received by the of the transaction interface15, sent as network messages between the computer devices 8,12 and thetransaction interface 15.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the payment application 13 can be configuredas a client application of the transaction service 20, is configured forgeneration (i.e. encoding) and presentment of the barcode 200 to thefunds responder 18, and/or is configured for processing (i.e. decoding)of the presented barcode 200 and generation of a funds transactionrequest 64 to the transaction service 20. The payment application 13 isalso configured to provide a graphical interface (on the user interface104—see FIG. 5), for example, to facilitate entry of requestor accountinformation by the funds requestor 16 as well as entry of the fundsamount 203 requested (e.g. via a transaction generation module 30). Thepayment application 13 is also configured to provide a graphicalinterface, for example, to facilitate entry of responder accountinformation by the funds responder 18 as well as entry of a confirmationthat the funds amount 203 requested is correct. It is recognized thatthe functionality of the payment application 13, encountered by a userduring the funds transfer transaction 5, is dependent upon which sidethe computer device 8,12 is being utilized for, i.e. either the fundsrequestor 16 or the funds responder 18.

Referring to FIG. 2, shown is an example configuration of the paymentapplication 13 that can include a network communications module 40 forcommunicating (e.g. sending or receiving) fund request messages 42between the computer devices 8,12 and for communicating (e.g. sending orreceiving) fund response messages 44 between the computer devices 8,12over the communications network 11. The network communications module 40is also configured for sending a transaction request 64 (e.g. a requestby the funds responder 18 containing the appropriate transaction data ofthe funds amount 203 and both for the funds requestor 16 and the fundsresponder 18, to allow to the transaction system 20 to coordinate theactual funds transfer between accounts 70,72) as well as receivingtransaction confirmation messages 46 from the transaction service 20(containing information indicating that the appropriate account 70,72has been credited or debited as the case warrants).

The requestor confirmation message(s) 46 received by the paymentapplication 13 could contain details of the payment processing includingthat the requestor account was (or will be) credited/debited by thefunds amount 203 of the funds transfer transaction 5, as well as anytransfer data 210 (see FIG. 3) identifying the funds transfertransaction 5 (e.g. transfer ID, responder ID, description of theproducts, etc.) for requestor accounting records. It is recognized thatthe payment application 13 would could also receive responderconfirmation message(s) 46 containing details of the payment processingincluding that the responder account was (or will be) debited by thefunds amount 203 of the funds transfer transaction 5, as well as anytransfer data 210 identifying the funds transfer transaction 5 (e.g.transfer ID, requester ID, description of the products, etc.) forresponder accounting records.

In order to facilitate description of the different requestor andresponder based functionality of the payment application 13, thefollowing is presented as combined functional descriptions (i.e.requestor and responder) of the payment application 13 by example only,in reference to the same FIG. 2, as both requestor and responderfunctionalities could be included in one payment application 13. It isalso envisioned that the payment application 13 could be configured onthe computer devices 8,12 as two separate applications, whereby arequestor version of the payment application 13 could be used by thecomputer 12 and a corresponding responder version of the paymentapplication 13 could be used by the computer 8, in the example where thecomputer 12 is used for requestor based actions (e.g. message send,message receive, processing) and the computer 8 is used for responderbased actions (e.g. message send, message receive, processing). In thecase where requestor based actions are required of the computer 8, thenthe requestor version of the payment application 13 could be used and inthe case where responder based actions are required of the computer 12,then the responder version of the payment application 13 could be used,for example.

The network communications module 40 can also be configured to send andreceive the transaction confirmation messages 46 over the communicationsnetwork 11 with respect to the transaction service 20. Also included isa database 48 containing any optional product data 206 (e.g. productdescriptions, product availability, etc.), requestor data 208 (e.g.requestor bank account number, a unique requestor reference ID of therequestor assigned by the transaction service 20 (e.g. via theregistration module 60—see FIG. 4), tax or requestor businessregistration details, and registration details 17 of the requestor),responder data 211 (e.g. responder bank account number, a uniqueresponder reference ID of the responder assigned by the transactionservice 20 (e.g. via the registration module 60—see FIG. 4), tax orresponder business registration details, and registration details 17 ofthe responder) and network 11 address information of the transactionservice 20. It is recognize that preferably the payment application 13of the funds requestor 16 does not have access to sensitive responderdata 211 (e.g. PIN numbers and/or actual bank account numbers) andpreferably the payment application 13 of the funds responder 18 does nothave access to sensitive requestor data 208 (e.g. PIN numbers and/oractual bank account numbers).

The database 48 can also have customized barcode definitions of acustomized coding scheme 209 containing relationships (e.g. rules)between machine readable symbology and codewords used to encode (ordecode) funds transfer transaction 5 information during generation ofthe barcode 200 used to represent the funds transfer transaction 5. Forexample, the customized coding scheme 209 can be used to encode (i.e.translate) text based funds information 201 (see FIG. 3) of the fundstransfer transaction 5 into symbology information 204, performed duringgeneration of the barcode 200 (e.g. by the computer device 12 and/or thetransaction service 20). The customized coding scheme 209 can also beused to decode (i.e. interpret) symbology information 204 present in thebarcode 200 into text based funds information 201 of the funds transfertransaction 5 during processing of the barcode 200 (e.g. by the computerdevice 8 and/or the transaction service 20). It is recognized that thecustomized coding scheme 209 can be known to the transaction service 20and can include customized codewords pertaining to specific fundsinformation such as but not limited to: registration details 17 of therequestor and/or responder, requestor ID, responder ID; funds amounts203; transfer number(s); etc.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the payment application 13 also has atransaction generation module 30 used to collect the funds transactiontransfer 5 data (e.g. product data 206, requestor data 208, responderdata 211 and/or transfer data 210) associated with the funds amount 203selected/entered by the funds requestor 16 during initiation of thefunds transaction transfer 5. It is recognized that optional productdata 206 and some of the responder data 211 of the funds transactiontransfer 5, such as specific products ordered and quantity of eachproduct, could be provided to the transaction generation module 30obtained from funds request messages 44 (e.g. via the networkcommunications module 40). Further, the transaction generation module 30would collect (or otherwise receive) the requestor data 208 for thefunds transaction transfer 5 from the database 48. The transactiongeneration module 30 also generates the funds transaction transfer 5data including the funds amount 203 (optionally including applicabletaxes) that includes the total funds amount owed (for example) by thefunds responder 18 and requestor identification information (associatedwith or otherwise embodying the requestor bank account information) ofthe funds transaction transfer 5. For example, in terms of the requestorbank account information, this could be supplied as part of therequestor information included in the funds transaction transfer 5 dataor this could be supplied as a requestor identification information(e.g. requestor ID) used by the transaction service 20 to lookup theactual requestor bank account information known to the transactionservice 20 (e.g. via the registration module 60—see FIG. 4) andtherefore abstracted from the funds responder 18.

It is recognized that the transaction generation module 30 could also beconfigured to provide to the user of the computer device 12 (via apresented graphical user interface on the user interface 104 of thecomputer device 12) the ability to select or otherwise enter the desiredrequestor account (e.g. specifying a credit card number, a debit cardnumber, or any other account information for use in accepting/paying thefunds amount 203). The transaction generation module 30 could alsoprovide, via the graphical user interface, the ability of the fundsrequestor 16 to enter their PIN (or other password information specificto accessing their financial accounts directly) associated with thespecified requestor account, thereby indicating that the user of thecomputer device 12 at the time of generating the transaction andresultant barcode 200 has the authority to authorize the transactionservice 20 (e.g. via the transfer processing module 65) to coordinatefunds transfer involving the specified requestor account. The PIN, orother password information specific to accessing the selected financialaccounts directly, can be considered as part of the requestor data 208included in the funds transaction transfer 5 data and included in thesymbology information 204, either directly or otherwise abstractedduring generation of the barcode 200. For example, the PIN or otherpassword information would not be the actual PIN or password informationmade available to the financial institutions of the accounts 70,72,rather would be reference information used by the transaction service 20(e.g. via the registration module 60) to look up the actual PIN orpassword information stored in the registration details 17 of the fundsrequester 16 using the reference PIN or password provided by the fundsrequestor 16 during generation of the barcode 200.

This use of PIN or password information is advantageous, in addition toany passwords required to access the computer device 12 in general (e.g.device login) and/or login to the payment application 13 specifically,as the owner of the computer device 12 would not want any unauthorizedaccess to their financial accounts to occur. It is also envisioned thatthe entered PIN or password information could be done by the user inorder to login to the payment application 13 itself (i.e. access thefunctionality of the payment application 13 provisioned on the computerdevice 12). It is also recognized that the user of the computer device12 may wish to have separate PINs or passwords associated with eachaccount accessible through the payment application 13 itself (e.g.selectable) and/or known to the transaction service 20 (e.g. via theregistration module 60) via the registration details 17, in addition toa general login (including password) to the computer device 12 and/orpayment application in general.

The payment application 13 also has a barcode generation module 32,including an encoder 120, that is configured to use theavailable/collected funds transaction transfer 5 data and the customizedcoding scheme 209 to generate the barcode 200. It is recognized that thebarcode 200 is generated by the barcode generation module 32 to containdata of the funds transaction transfer 5 pertaining to the funds amount203 entered/selected by the funds requestor 16, including paymenttransaction data needed by the transaction service 20 to coordinatesettlement of the financial transaction (associated with the fundstransaction transfer 5 data) via the transaction processing system 14 intransferring funds from the specified (e.g. by the transaction service14) account of the funds responder 18 to the specified (e.g. by thetransaction service 20) account of the funds requestor 16. In thisexample, it is envisioned that the funds requestor 16 is preregistered(i.e. has provided the registration details 17) with the transactionservice 20 and is provided with a requestor ID (e.g. via theregistration module 60) that is associated with the requestor's actualaccount information (and any other sensitive requestor information),both of which are stored in a secure database 58 of the transactionservice 20 (thereby providing for the lookup by the registration module60).

Encoding

One example of the customized coding interpretation scheme 209 forbarcodes is a modified UPC (Universal Product Code) to include invoicespecific data. Another example is a modified QR scheme, as furtherdescribed below. The numbers and/or letters (e.g. ASCII—AmericanStandard Code for Information Interchange) stored in the symbologyinformation 204 of the barcode 200 are unique identifiers representingthe particular standard code and custom code (representing invoicespecific data) defined in the customized coding scheme 209 that, whenread by the barcode decoder 119 or encoder 120, can be used to look upadditional information about the invoice item associated with thebarcode 200. For example, the funds amount 203, and optionaldescription, of the product would be encoded in the barcode 200 usingthe symbology information 204.

Accordingly, the barcode generation module 32 takes the funds transfertransaction 5 data (i.e. as the textual funds information 201) and usesthe codes and associated rules of the customized coding interpretationscheme 209 to convert a piece of the textual funds information 201 (forexample, a letter, word, phrase, etc.) of the funds transfer transaction5 data into another form or representation (one sign into another sign),not necessarily of the same type, i.e. the symbology information 204. Ininformation processing performed by the barcode generation module 32,encoding is the process by which textual funds information 201 of thefunds transfer transaction 5 is converted into symbols (of the symbolformat 204 defined by the customized coding scheme 209) to becommunicated/presented. Decoding is the reverse process, convertingthese code symbols 204 back into textual funds information 201understandable by a receiver. Therefore, the symbology information 204generated from the textual funds information 201 of the funds transfertransaction 5 data is used by the barcode generation module 32 toconstruct the barcode 200, according to the customized coding scheme209. This barcode 200 can be made available to the networkcommunications module 40 to be sent in the request message 42 (deliveredas an image file for example) to the computer device 8 or can bedisplayed on a browser screen of the user interface 104 of the computerdevice 12. It is recognized that the barcode 200 represents symbolicallythe textual data 201 of the funds transfer transaction 5.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the payment application 13 also has a barcodepresentment module 33, used by the funds requestor 16 to transmit viarequest messages 42 and/or electronically display the image of thebarcode 200 to the funds responder 18 on the display (of the userinterface 104) of the computer device 12. Therefore, in addition tousing the request messages 42, the barcode presentment module 33 can beconfigured to provide instructions to a printer for physically printingthe barcode 200 and/or can be configured to provide instructions to theelectronic display for displaying the barcode 200. In either case, thebarcode presentment module 33 is configured to present the barcode 200to the funds responder 18 for subsequent receipt or image capture (ofthe barcode 200) using the responder's computer device 8 (e.g. mobiledevice).

Referring to FIG. 2, the payment application 13 also has a transactionrequest module 34, including the decoder 119, used to decode thereceived barcode 200, select or otherwise enter (e.g. via a providedgraphical user interface generated by the payment application 13 on theuser interface 104 of the computer device 8) account information of thefunds responder 18 as well as any other relevant responder data 211, andto generate the transfer request 64 directed to the transaction service20. It is recognized that the transfer request 64 could include decodedfunds transfer transaction 5 data (e.g. textual funds information 201)obtained from the symbology information 204 of the barcode 200, and/orat least some of the symbology information 204 itself of the barcode200), as well as responder account data pertaining to the selected modeof payment/credit.

It could be advantageous for security purposes to allow the transactionrequest module 34 to decode only a portion of the symbology information204 (of the barcode 200) pertinent to the funds responder 18 (e.g. thefunds amount 203, requester name or other non-sensitive requestoridentification information, unique transfer ID, etc.) and to leave anyrequestor sensitive information (e.g. requestor account information, forexample including PIN or password data) as undecoded (i.e. remainencoded) from the symbology information 204 and therefore abstractedfrom the funds responder 18. In this manner, the decoder 119 of thetransaction request module 34 would not have the ability to decodecertain sensitive information in the symbology information 204pertaining only to the funds requestor 16, in other words only thatfunds data common to both of the funds requester 16 and the fundsresponder 18 is decodable by the decoder 119 (common information forexample could be funds amount 203, transfer ID, product description,names of requestor and responder).

One embodiment, to provide for the sensitive portions of the symbologyinformation 204 to remain undecoded, is where the decoder 119 (of thepayment application 13) of the computer device 8 does not have access tothe encryption key used by the encoder 120 of the payment application 13of the computer device 12. It is also envisioned that the computerdevice 12 does not have access to the encryption key used by the decoder119 of the payment application 13 of the computer device 8. Further, inthis example, it is recognized that in the event where the transactionservice 20 does receive encoded symbology information 204 in thetransaction request 64, the transaction service 20 (e.g. via theregistration module 60) would have access to the requestor encryptionkey and/or the responder encryption key via their respectiveregistration details 17 stored in the database 58.

In cryptography, the encryption key can be defined as a piece ofinformation (a parameter) that determines the functional output of acryptographic algorithm or cipher (i.e. as implemented by the encoder120 or decoder 119). Without the key, the algorithm of the encoder 120or decoder 119 would produce no useful result (i.e. the decodedsymbology information 204 would be meaningless). In encryption, the keyspecifies the particular transformation of plaintext into ciphertext, orvice versa during decryption. Keys can be used in cryptographicalgorithms, such as digital signature schemes and message authenticationcodes.

Further, the transaction request module 34 could also be configured toprovide to the user of the computer device 8 (via a presented graphicaluser interface on the user interface 104 of the computer device 8) theability to select or otherwise enter the desired responder account (e.g.specifying a credit card number, a debit card number, or any otheraccount information for use in accepting/paying the funds amount 203).The transaction request module 34 could also provide, via the graphicaluser interface, the ability of the funds responder 18 to enter their PIN(or other password information specific to accessing their financialaccounts directly) associated with the specified responder account,thereby indicating that the user of the computer device 8 at the time ofgenerating the transaction request 64 has the authority to authorize thetransaction service 20 (e.g. via the transaction processing module 65)to coordinate funds transfer involving the specified responder account.The PIN, or other password information specific to accessing theselected financial accounts directly, can be considered as part of theresponder data 211 included in transaction request 64 data, eitherdirectly or otherwise abstracted during generation of the transactionrequest 64. For example, the PIN or other password information would notbe the actual PIN or password information made available to thefinancial institutions of the accounts 70,72, rather would be referenceinformation used by the transaction service 20 (e.g. via theregistration module 60) to look up the actual PIN or passwordinformation stored in the registration details 17 of the funds responder18 using the reference PIN or password information provided by the fundsresponder 18 during generation of the transaction request 64.

This use of PIN or password information is advantageous, in addition toany passwords required to access the computer device 8 in general (e.g.device login) and/or login to the payment application 13 specifically,as the owner of the computer device 8 would not want any unauthorizedaccess to their financial accounts to occur. It is also envisioned thatthe entered PIN or password information could be done by the user inorder to login to the payment application 13 itself (i.e. access thefunctionality of the payment application 13 provisioned on the computerdevice 8). It is also recognized that the user of the computer device 8may wish to have separate PINs or passwords associated with each accountaccessible through the payment application 13 itself (e.g. selectable)and/or known to the transaction service 20 (e.g. via the registrationmodule 60) via the registration details 17, in addition to a generallogin (including password) to the computer device 8 and/or paymentapplication 13 in general.

Decoding

One example of the customized coding interpretation scheme 209 forbarcodes is modified UPC (Universal Product Code). The numbers and/orletters (e.g. ASCII—American Standard Code for Information Interchange)encoded in the barcode 200 are unique identifiers representing theparticular custom code defined in the customized coding scheme 209 that,when read by the barcode decoder 119, can be used to look up additionalinformation about the invoice item associated with the barcode 200. Forexample, the funds amount 203 and optional description of the productwould be stored in the barcode 200 using the symbology information 204,as well as any pertinent requestor data 208 and/or responder data 211.The decoder 119 circuitry and/or software is used to recognize and/or tomake sense of the symbology information 204 that make up barcode 200.The decoder 119 can translates symbols 204 into corresponding digitaloutput in a traditional data format (i.e. as textual funds information201). In order to decode the information in barcode 200, for example for1D barcodes, the widths of the bars and spaces are recognized via edgedetection and their widths measured.

Transaction Service 20 and Transaction Interface 15

Referring to FIG. 4, shown is an example configuration of thetransaction service 20 including the computer device 6 (e.g. a webserver) hosting the transaction interface 15. The transaction interface15 can include a network communications module 50 for receiving orderrequest messages 52 (e.g. providing textual funds information 201 andexpecting a generated barcode 200) from the computer device 12 and forsending fund transfer processing messages 54 to the transactionprocessing system 14 over the communications network 11.

The network communications module 50 can also be configured to send andreceive transfer confirmation messages 46 to the computer devices 8,12(in response to the received transaction request messages 64) over thecommunications network 11 with respect to the computer devices 8,12.Also included is a database 58 containing registration details 17 of thefunds requestor 16 and/or funds responder 16 as discussed above, andnetwork 11 address information of the transaction processing system 14.The database 58 can also have customized barcode definitions of thecustomized coding scheme 209 containing relationships (e.g. rules)between machine readable symbology and codewords used to encode (ordecode) fund information during encoding and/or decoding of symbologyinformation 204 of the barcode 200 used to represent the funds transfertransaction 5.

For example, the customized coding scheme 209 can be used by the barcodegeneration module 62 to encode (i.e. translate) text based fundsinformation 201 of the funds transfer transaction 5 (including datareceived from the computer 12) into symbology information 204, performedduring generation of the barcode 200. The customized coding scheme 209can also be used to decode (i.e. interpret) symbology information 204present in the barcode 200 into text based funds information 201 of thefunds transfer transaction 5 during processing of the barcode 200. It isrecognized that the customized coding scheme 209 is known to thetransaction service 20 and can include customized codewords pertainingto specific funds information such as but not limited to: sensitiveresponder and requestor financial information.

Referring again to FIG. 4, the transaction interface 15 also has aregistration module 60 used to collect the registration details 17during registration of the funds requestor 16 and/or the funds responder18. Further to that discussed above, it is recognized that theregistration details 17 can include PIN data and/or password data usedto access the specified account(s) 70,72 through the financialinstitutions of the transaction processing system 14. For example, interms of the requester or responder bank account information, this couldbe supplied as part of the reference account information included in thetransaction request 64, for example used by the registration module 60to lookup the actual requestor or responder bank account information inthe registration details 17 known only to the transaction service 20,and therefore abstracted from the appropriate requestor or responder.

The transaction interface 15 can also have the barcode generation module62 that is configured, by an encoder 120, to use the received text basedfunds information 201 data and the customized coding scheme 209 togenerate the barcode 200, for subsequent delivery to the computer device12 and/or the computer device 8 if configured as part of the processingfor the funds transfer transaction 5 (i.e. the computer device 12—viathe payment application 13 operation—sends the textual funds information201 to the transaction service 20 and the transaction service 20 thensends the generated barcode 200 directly to the computer device 8 forsubsequent processing by its payment application 13). It is recognizedthat the barcode 200 is generated by the barcode generation module 62 tocontain data of the funds transfer transaction 5 pertaining to the fundsamount 203 provided by the funds requestor 16, including transactiondata needed by the payment transaction processing system 14 to settlethe financial transaction by transferring funds between specifiedaccounts 70,72.

Encoding

One example of the customized coding interpretation scheme 209 forbarcodes is a modified UPC (Universal Product Code) to include invoicespecific data. Another example is a modified QR scheme, as furtherdescribed below. The numbers and/or letters (e.g. ASCII—AmericanStandard Code for Information Interchange) stored in the symbologyinformation 204 of the barcode 200 are unique identifiers representingthe particular standard code and custom code (representing invoicespecific data) defined in the customized coding scheme 209 that, whenread by a barcode decoder 119, can be used to look up additionalinformation about the invoice item associated with the barcode 200.

Accordingly, the barcode generation module 62 takes the text based fundsinformation 201 data and uses the codes and associated rules of thecustomized coding interpretation scheme 209 to convert a piece of thetextual funds information 201 (for example, a letter, word, phrase,etc.) into another form or representation (one sign into another sign),not necessarily of the same type, i.e. the symbology information 204. Ininformation processing performed by the barcode generation module 62,encoding is the process by which textual funds information 201 isconverted into symbols (of the symbol format 204 defined by thecustomized coding scheme 209) to be communicated. Decoding is thereverse process, converting these code symbols 204 back into textualfunds information 201 understandable by a receiver. Therefore, thesymbology information 204 generated from the textual funds information201 is used by the barcode generation module 62 to construct the barcode200, according to the customized coding scheme 209. This barcode 200 ismade available to the network communications module 50 to be sent in theorder response message 54 (for example) to the computer device 12 (e.g.displayed on a browser screen of the user interface 104 of the computerdevice 12 or otherwise delivered as an image file in the network message54, etc.). It is recognized that the barcode 200 represents symbolicallythe textual data 201. Alternatively, the network communications module50 could send the barcode 200 in the message 54 to the computer device 8(e.g. displayed on a browser screen of the user interface 104 of thecomputer device 8 or otherwise delivered as an image file in the networkmessage 54, etc.).

Referring to FIG. 4, the transaction interface 15 can also have adecoder module 66, including the decoder 119, used to decode thereceived barcode 200 in the case where the transaction request 64 dataincludes symbology information 204. For example, the decoder 119 couldbe used to decode account information of the funds requester 16(pertaining to the selected mode of payment/credit of the requestor andoptionally including the PIN or password data of the requestor account)as well as any other relevant requestor data 211 from the symbology 204,for example using the respective encryption key stored in theregistration details 17 of the funds requestor 16). One embodiment, toprovide for the sensitive portions of the symbology information 204 tobe decoded, is where the decoder 119 of the computer device 8 has accessto the encryption key (via the registration details 17) used by theencoder 120 used by the payment application 13 of the computer device12. It is also envisioned that the decoder 119 can have access to theencryption key used by the payment application 13 of the computer device8. Therefore, in the event where the transaction service 20 does receiveencoded symbology information 204 in the transaction request 64, thetransaction service 20 would have access to the requestor encryption keyand/or the responder encryption key via their respective registrationdetails 17 stored in the database 58.

One example of the customized coding interpretation scheme 209 forbarcodes is modified UPC (Universal Product Code). The numbers and/orletters (e.g. ASCII—American Standard Code for information Interchange)encoded in the barcode 200 are unique identifiers representing theparticular custom code defined in the customized coding scheme 209 that,when read by the barcode decoder 119, can be used to look up additionalinformation about the invoice item associated with the barcode 200. Forexample, the funds amount 203 and optional description of the productwould be stored in the barcode 200 using the symbology information 204,as well as any pertinent requestor data 208 and/or responder data 211.The decoder 119 circuitry and/or software is used to recognize and/or tomake sense of the symbology information 204 that make up barcode 200.The decoder 119 can translates symbols 204 into corresponding digitaloutput in a traditional data format (i.e. as textual funds information201). In order to decode the information in barcode 200, for example for1D barcodes, the widths of the bars and spaces are recognized via edgedetection and their widths measured.

Referring again to FIG. 4, once all of the textual funds information 201is received by the transaction interface 15 or otherwise decoded, atransfer processing module 65 communicates using transaction processingmessages 56 with the transaction processing system 14. It is recognizedthat the transaction processing messages 56 could include decoded fundstransfer transaction 5 data (e.g. textual funds information 201)obtained from the symbology information 204 of the barcode 200, and/oras received from the computer device 8, including responder andrequestor account data and the funds amount 203.

Further, the transfer processing module 65 could be configured toconfirm whether the received PIN or password information of therequestor and/or the responder matches the corresponding PIN or passwordinformation stored in their respective registration details 17 that isassociated with their respective account (e.g. credit card number, adebit card number, or any other account information for use inaccepting/paying the funds amount 203). In the event that the receivedPIN or password information (for the requestor and/or the responder)matches the corresponding PIN or password information stored in theirrespective registration details 17, the transfer processing module 65has confirmed that at the time of generating the barcode 200 and/or atthe time that the transaction request 64 was generated, the respectivefunds requestor 16 and/or the respective funds responder 18 had theauthority to authorize the transaction service 20 to coordinate fundstransfer involving the specified responder/requestor account(s). In theevent that the received PIN or password information (for the requestorand/or the responder) does not match the corresponding PIN or passwordinformation stored in their respective registration details 17, thetransfer processing module 65 could deny the transaction request 64 andsend notice of the denial back to the computer devices 8,12 via therespective transaction confirmation messages 46. For example, if bothmatches fail, then both of the computer devices 8,12 would be notifiedof the denial. Otherwise if only one of matches failed, then therespective one of the computer devices 8,12 would be notified of thedenial.

In any event, the transfer processing module 65 is also configured toreceive confirmation message(s) 56 from the transaction processingsystem 14, such that confirmation message(s) 56 include a confirmationthat the funds amount has either been transferred between accounts 70,72or declined. The confirmation message(s) 56 sent by the transactionservice 20 can include instructions to the respective financialinstitutions (not shown), for example, associated with the customer andmerchant account information to debit the appropriate account 70,72 andcredit the appropriate account 70,72 by the funds amount 203 along withthe required account data and (optional) PIN or password data. Theconfirmation message(s) 56 received by the transaction interface 15 fromthe transaction payment processing system 14 could contain details ofthe payment processing including that the accounts were (or will be)credited by the amount, as well as any transfer data 210 (e.g. transferID) for requestor/responder accounting records.

In is recognized in the above embodiments, that in terms of the accountinformation, this could be supplied as specifically the account numberor this could be supplied as identification information (e.g. accountID) used by the transaction service 20 to lookup the actual bank accountinformation known to the transaction service 20 (via the respectiveregistration details 17) and therefore the account number would beabstracted from the general communications over the network 11.

Computer Device 8,12

Referring to FIG. 5, each computer device 8,12 can be a wireless-enabled(e.g. WiFi, WAN, etc.) personal data assistant, or email-enabledwireless telephone, or a desktop computer terminal. In addition, thewireless communications are not limited to only facilitatingtransmission of text data (e.g. encrypted) and can therefore be used totransmit image data, audio data or multimedia data, for example, asdesired.

As shown in FIG. 5, the computer device 8,12 comprises a communicationnetwork interface 102, a user interface 104, and a data processingsystem 106 in communication with the network interface 102 and the userinterface 104. The network interface 102 can include one or moreantennas for wireless communication over the communications network 11.Preferably, the user interface 104 comprises a data entry device (suchas keyboard, microphone or writing tablet), and a display device (suchas an LCD display). The display screen of the user interface 104 can beused to visually present a graphical user interface (GUI) of the paymentapplication 13 to the user, including results of the barcode 200 imagecapture process and processing. The display screen can employ a touchscreen display, in which case the user can manipulate (i.e. enter and/ormodify/delete) funds information (e.g. product data 206, requestor data208, responder data 211 and/or transfer data 210) obtained as textualinvoice information 201 from the decoded barcode 200 and/or assupplemental information (e.g. requestor data 208, responder data 211)added to the textual invoice information 201 in order to generate thetransaction request 64.

The data processing system 106 includes a central processing unit (CPU)108, otherwise referred to as a computer processor, and a non-volatilememory storage device (e.g. DISC) 48 (such as a magnetic disc memory orelectronic memory) and a read/write memory (RAM) 112 both incommunication with the CPU 108. The memory 48 includes data which, whenloaded into the RAM, comprise processor instructions for the CPU 108which define memory objects for allowing the computer devices 8, 12 tocommunicate with one another and the transaction service 20 (foraccessing the transaction interface 15) and the transaction processingsystem 14 (e.g. one or more processing servers) over the communicationsnetwork 11. The mobile device 8,12, and the processor instructions forthe CPU 108 will be discussed in greater detail below.

The CPU 108 is configured for execution of a payment application 13 forfacilitating communication between the transaction processing system 14,the computer device 8, 12 and the computer device 6 of the transactionservice 20. For example, it is recognised that the payment application13 is used to coordinate, as implemented by the CPU 108, the generation,receipt, and processing of the barcode 200 and the transaction messages64. For example, the payment application 13 can operate the imager 118and the encoder/decoder 119,120.

The CPU 108 facilitates performance of the computer device 8,12configured for the intended task (e.g. of the respective module(s) ofthe payment application 13) through operation of the network interface102, the user interface 104 and other application programs/hardware(e.g. web browser made available to the payment application 13) of thecomputer device 8, 12 by executing task related instructions. These taskrelated instructions can be provided by an operating system, and/orsoftware applications located in memory, and/or by operability that isconfigured into the electronic/digital circuitry of the processor(s) 108designed to perform the specific task(s), including operation of themodules 30,32,33,34,40. Further, it is recognized that the deviceinfrastructure 106 can include a computer readable storage medium 48coupled to the processor 108 for providing instructions to the processor108 and/or to load/update the instructions. The computer readable medium48 can include hardware and/or software such as, by way of example only,memory cards such as flash memory or other solid-state memory.

Further, it is recognized that the computer device 8, 12 can include theexecutable applications comprising code or machine readable instructionsfor implementing predetermined functions/operations including those ofan operating system, the imager 118, the decoder 119, the encoder 120and the payment application 13, for example. The processor 108 as usedherein is a configured device and/or set of machine-readableinstructions for performing operations as described by example above,including those operations as performed by any or all of the imager 118,the decoder 119, the encoder 120 and the payment application 13. As usedherein, the processor 108 may comprise any one or combination of,hardware, firmware, and/or software. The processor 108 acts uponinformation by manipulating, analyzing, modifying, converting ortransmitting information for use by an executable procedure or aninformation device, and/or by routing the information with respect to anoutput device. The processor 108 may use or comprise the capabilities ofa controller or microprocessor, for example.

The data processing system 106 includes the imager 118 (e.g. a cameraincluding an image sensor—e.g. CCD or CMOS sensor) suitable forcapturing images of the barcode 200 displayed or otherwise presented bythe merchant 16 within range of the imager 118. The payment application13 is configured to control the operation of the imager 118 to capturethe image of the barcode 200, as well as to operate the decoder toprovide for decoding at least a portion of the symbology information 204into textual invoice information 201 for subsequent use in generatingthe transaction request message 64 directed to the transaction service20. The storage 48 can also contain the customized coding interpretationscheme 209 for use in decoding/encoding the barcode 200.

Transaction Service Device 6

Referring to FIG. 6, the device 6 can be a wireless-enabled (e.g. WiFi,WAN, etc.) personal data assistant, or email-enabled wireless telephone,for example a tablet. In addition, the wireless communications are notlimited to only facilitating transmission of text data (e.g. encrypted)and can therefore be used to transmit image data, audio data ormultimedia data, for example, as desired. Preferably, the device 6 is anetwork server.

As shown in FIG. 6, the device 6 can comprise a communication networkinterface 102, a user interface 104, and a data processing system 106 incommunication with the network interface 102 and the user interface 104.The network interface 102 can include one or more antennas for wirelesscommunication over the communications network 11. The user interface 104can comprise a data entry device (such as keyboard, microphone orwriting tablet), and a display device (such as an LCD display).

The data processing system 106 includes a central processing unit (CPU)108, otherwise referred to as a computer processor, and a non-volatileor volatile memory storage device (e.g. DISC) 58 (such as a magneticdisc memory or electronic memory) and a read/write memory (RAM) 112 bothin communication with the CPU 108. The memory 58 includes data which,when loaded into the RAM, comprise processor instructions for the CPU108 which define memory objects for allowing the device 6 to communicatewith the computer devices 8,12 and the transaction processing system 14(e.g. one or more processing servers) over the communications network11. The instructions can be used to provide or otherwise host thetransaction interface 15 as a website running on the computer device 6and accessed via the network 11.

The CPU 108 is configured for execution of the transaction interface 15for facilitating communication with the transaction processing system 14and the computer devices 8,12. For example, it is recognised that thetransaction interface 15 is used to coordinate, as implemented by theCPU 108, the generation, receipt, and processing of the textual invoiceinformation 201 and the symbology information 204 of the barcode 200, aswell as coordinating the settlement of funds transfer of the fundsamount 203 between the specified accounts 70,72.

The CPU 108 facilitates performance of the device 6 configured for theintended task (e.g. of the respective module(s) of the transactioninterface 15) through operation of the network interface 102, the userinterface 104 and other application programs/hardware (e.g. web servicemade available through the transaction interface 15) of the device 6 byexecuting task related instructions. These task related instructions canbe provided by an operating system, and/or software applications locatedin memory, and/or by operability that is configured into theelectronic/digital circuitry of the processor(s) 108 designed to performthe specific task(s). Further, it is recognized that the deviceinfrastructure 106 can include the computer readable storage medium 58coupled to the processor 108 for providing instructions to the processor108 and/or to load/update the instructions. The computer readable medium58 can include hardware and/or software such as, by way of example only,memory cards such as flash memory or other solid-state memory. Thestorage 58 can also contain the customized coding interpretation scheme209 for use in encoding and/or decoding the barcode 200.

Further, it is recognized that the device 6 can include the executableapplications comprising code or machine readable instructions forimplementing predetermined functions/operations including those of anoperating system and the modules 50,60,62,63,65,66 for example. Theprocessor 108 as used herein is a configured device and/or set ofmachine-readable instructions for performing operations as described byexample above, including those operations as performed by any or all ofthe modules 50,60,62,63,65, 66. As used herein, the processor 108 maycomprise any one or combination of, hardware, firmware, and/or software.The processor 108 acts upon information by manipulating, analyzing,modifying, converting or transmitting information for use by anexecutable procedure or an information device, and/or by routing theinformation with respect to an output device. The processor 108 may useor comprise the capabilities of a controller or microprocessor, forexample.

Operation of the Funds Transfer Transaction System 10

Referring to FIGS. 1, 4 and 7, shown is an example operation 300 of thetransaction interface 15 of the transaction service 20. The transactionsystem is configured for coordinating processing of the funds transfertransaction 5 between the transaction requester 16 and a transactionresponder 18 over the communications network 11. The transactioninterface 15, as described above, uses its computer processor coupled tomemory, wherein the computer processor is programmed to coordinateprocessing of the funds transfer transaction 5 by the example operation300.

At step 302, the transaction interface 15 receives (e.g. via the networkmodule 50) the funds amount 203, requestor identification information208, and responder identification information 211, such that at leastone of the funds amount 203, the requestor identification information208, or the responder identification information 211 is encoded insymbology information 204 embodied in the barcode 200. At step 304, thedecoder module 66 decodes the symbology information 204 into unencodedinformation 201 using the coding scheme 209 of the barcode 200. At step306, the transfer processing module 65 generates the funds transferrequest 56 for the funds transfer transaction 5, such that the fundstransfer request 56 has content including the funds amount 203 andfinancial account 70,72 information pertaining to at least one of therequestor identification information 208 or the responder identificationinformation 211, such that at least a portion of the content includesthe unencoded information 201 decoded from the symbology information204. At step 308, the transfer processing module 65 sends the fundstransfer request 56 to the transaction processing system 14 forsubsequent settlement.

At step 310, the funds transfer request 56 (or network module 50)receives the funds transfer response 54 from the transaction processingsystem 14, such that the funds transfer response 54 has settlementinformation confirming at least one of account credit information oraccount debit information of the funds amount 203. At step 312, thenetwork module 50 sends the transaction confirmation message 46 to atleast one of the transaction requestor 16 or the transaction responder18 via their computer devices 8,12, such that the transactionconfirmation message 46 includes the settlement information relevant tothe at least one of the transaction requestor 16 or the transactionresponder 18.

While the exemplary embodiments have been described herein, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiments. The invention is intended to cover various modificationsand equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of theappended claims, and scope of the claims is to be accorded aninterpretation that encompasses all such modifications and equivalentstructures and functions.

I claim:
 1. A transaction system for coordinating remote processing of afunds transfer transaction between a merchant and a consumer remotelyover a communications network, the transaction system comprising: acomputer processor coupled to a memory, wherein the computer processoris programmed to coordinate processing of the funds transfer transactionby: generating a barcode based on a request received from a computerdevice of the merchant, the barcode comprising merchant identificationinformation and product information encoded in symbology information;sending the barcode over the communications network for eventual receiptby a computer device of the consumer; receiving from the computer deviceof the consumer over the communications network the merchantidentification information, the product information and the consumeridentification information such that at least one of the merchantidentification information or the product information is obtained fromthe symbology information of the barcode, said receiving absent a fundsamount; using at least one of the merchant identification information orproduct information decoded from the barcode as a reference code to lookup the funds amount from an associated record stored in memory;generating a funds transfer request for the funds transfer transaction,the funds transfer request having content including the funds amount andfinancial account information pertaining to at least one of the merchantidentification information or the consumer identification information,such that at least a portion of the content includes the unencodedinformation decoded from the symbology information; before sending afunds transfer request, requesting confirmation from the consumer overthe communications network that the funds amount is correct andreceiving a confirmation in response from the consumer over thecommunications network; and sending the funds transfer request to atransaction processing system for subsequent settlement to effecttransfer of funds representing the funds amount from a financial accountof the consumer to a financial account of the merchant.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the computer processor is further programmed to:receive a funds transfer response from the transaction processingsystem, the funds transfer response having settlement informationconfirming at least one of account credit information or account debitinformation of the funds amount; and send a transaction confirmationmessage to at least one of the merchant or the consumer, the transactionconfirmation message including the settlement information relevant tothe at least one of the merchant or the consumer.
 3. The system of claim2, wherein the transaction confirmation message includes productinformation associated with the funds amount and a unique transferidentifier of the funds transfer transaction.
 4. The system of claim 3,wherein the product information is selected from the group consistingof: restaurant meal information; retail items; a loan between themerchant and the consumer; a debt between the merchant and the consumer;and individual product information.
 5. The system of claim 1, whereinthe content of the funds transfer request includes the funds amount andthe financial account information pertaining to both of the merchantidentification information and the consumer identification information.6. The system of claim 5, wherein the computer processor is furtherprogrammed to: receive a funds transfer response from the transactionprocessing system, the funds transfer response having settlementinformation confirming account credit information and account debitinformation of the funds amount; and send respective transactionconfirmation messages to the merchant and the consumer, each of therespective transaction confirmation messages including the settlementinformation appropriate to respective one of the merchant or theconsumer.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the barcode is a 2D barcode.8. The system of claim 7, wherein the 2D barcode and correspondingcoding scheme are for a barcode type selected from the group consistingof QR codes and Microsoft™ Tag codes.
 9. The system of claim 1, whereinthe computer processor is further programmed to: use the consumeridentification information to look up the financial account informationof the consumer stored in the memory.
 10. The system of claim 9, whereinboth the consumer and the merchant have respective registrationinformation stored in the memory.
 11. The system of claim 10, whereinthe registration information of the consumer includes PIN or passwordinformation for use in authorizing access to the financial account ofthe consumer and the computer processor is further programmed to receivethe PIN or password information from the consumer over thecommunications network and match the received PIN or passwordinformation with the stored PIN or password information before sendingthe funds transfer request.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein theconsumer identification information includes encrypted information andthe computer processor is further programmed to decrypt the encryptedinformation of the consumer identification information.
 13. The systemof claim 9, wherein the merchant is a credit account holder and theconsumer is a debit account holder of the funds transfer transaction.14. The system of claim 13, wherein the barcode is a barcode imagecaptured using an image scanner of a mobile device of the consumer. 15.The system of claim 1, wherein a portion of the funds representing thefunds amount is transferred from the financial account of the consumerto the financial account of the merchant.
 16. The system of claim 1,wherein the symbology information includes a unique transfer identifierof the funds transfer transaction.
 17. The system of claim 1, whereinsaid sending the barcode is to the computer device of the merchant priorto said subsequent receipt by the consumer.
 18. A method forcoordinating remote processing of a funds transfer transaction between amerchant and a consumer remotely over a communications network, themethod comprising: a computer processor coupled to a memory, wherein thecomputer processor is programmed to coordinate processing of the fundstransfer transaction by: generating a barcode based on a requestreceived from a computer device of the merchant, the barcode comprisingmerchant identification information and product information encoded insymbology information; sending the barcode over the communicationsnetwork for eventual receipt by a computer device of the consumer;receiving from the computer device of the consumer over thecommunications network the merchant identification information, theproduct information and the consumer identification information suchthat at least one of the merchant identification information or theproduct information is obtained from the symbology information of thebarcode, said receiving absent a funds amount; using at least one of themerchant identification information or product information decoded fromthe barcode as a reference code to look up the funds amount from anassociated record stored in memory; generating a funds transfer requestfor the funds transfer transaction, the funds transfer request havingcontent including the funds amount and financial account informationpertaining to at least one of the merchant identification information orthe consumer identification information, such that at least a portion ofthe content includes the unencoded information decoded from thesymbology information; before sending a funds transfer request,requesting confirmation from the consumer over the communicationsnetwork that the funds amount is correct and receiving a confirmation inresponse from the consumer over the communications network; and sendingthe funds transfer request to a transaction processing system forsubsequent settlement to effect transfer of funds representing the fundsamount from a financial account of the consumer to a financial accountof the merchant.
 19. A non-transitory computer readable storage mediumwith an executable program application stored thereon, the programapplication configured for coordinating remote processing of a fundstransfer transaction involving a merchant and a consumer, the programapplication configured as a consumer client of a transaction serviceaccessible remotely over a communications network, wherein the programapplication instructs a computer processor to perform the followingsteps of: collecting merchant identification information and productinformation, such that at least one of the merchant identificationinformation or the product information is encoded in symbologyinformation embodied in a barcode; receiving consumer identificationinformation including a financial account selected by the consumer;generating a transaction request as a consumer request having content ofthe merchant identification information, the product information and theconsumer identification information, sending the transaction request tothe transaction service over the communications network, the transactionrequest absent a funds amount; receiving a request for confirmation fromthe transaction service over the communications network that the fundsamount is correct, at least one of the merchant identificationinformation or the product information decoded from the barcode and usedby the transaction service as a reference code to look up the fundsamount from an associated record stored in memory; sending aconfirmation in response to the transaction service over thecommunications network; and receiving a transaction confirmation messagefrom the transaction service over the communications network includingsettlement information pertaining to the funds transfer transactionassociated with the financial account selected by the consumer.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein theprogram application instructs the computer processor to perform thefollowing further step of: operating an imager to capture an image ofthe barcode prior to said collecting step.
 21. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the programapplication is configured for provisioning on a mobile device.